Dollar General to offer tuition assistance

Dollar General wants to make it easier for its employees to pursue higher education.

In a newly announced partnership with Bellevue University, all full-time and part-time Dollar General employees now qualify for $8,000 and $5,250 respectively in tuition assistance after working at Dollar General for a minimum of 30 days. Plus, immediate family members of employees are eligible for up to $2,625, as well.

To qualify, employees must maintain full-time student status throughout their degree program. This tuition reimbursement is good every year, adding up to $32,000 over the course of a four-year bachelor’s degree.

“This partnership further demonstrates our ongoing commitment to provide our employees with opportunities to gain new skills, develop their talents and advance within the company, which is reflected in our strong promotion and placement rates," said Bob Ravener, Dollar General’s executive VP and chief people officer.

Employees may choose from more than 50 bachelor’s degrees and 30 master’s degrees, all offered online. In addition to tuition assistance, employees can take advantage of a generous credit transfer policy that honors associate’s degrees in full. Students also benefit from a variety of support services, including academic advising, online tutoring, a writing center and ongoing professional development webinars.

“We’re honored to extend these services to Dollar General employees,” said Dr. Mary Hawkins, president of Bellevue University. “Dollar General understands the value of education, and their success over the years is a direct result of their commitment to their people. I’m excited about the possibilities of this partnership and look forward to welcoming Dollar General’s employees to the innovative online course offerings we have here at Bellevue University.”

Dollar General operated 14,000 stores in 44 states as of August 19, 2017.

By partnering with Fitcode, a fashion-data company that specializes in women's denim, Silver Jeans Co. now has a way to deliver a personalized, fit-focused shopping experience. Integrated on the retailer’s e-commerce site, the service allows consumers to take a fit quiz, and then shop personalized style recommendations tailored to their unique body types.

The denim-focused retailer pursued the project after seeing the positive results it delivered through a program with Jag Jeans — a company also operated by its parent company, Western Glove Works. Jag Jeans went live with the solution in February.

"After seeing the results from the Fitcode integration on the jagjeans.com site, this decision was simple," says Mike G. Girardin, director of e-commerce at Silver Jeans Co. and JAG Jeans. “Fitcode took care of all the heavy lifting, and of all the technical integrations we've done to date, this was by far the easiest.”

Silver Jeans has high expectations for the service. For example, since Jag Jeans launched the service, users are converting at four times their normal rate. Other results showed that consumers are at least three times more likely to make a purchase while using Fitcode, according to the company.

AmazonBasics defines online giant’s private-label efforts

Private-label introductions are increasing on a seemingly daily basis, but Amazon-owned products are transforming the marketplace.

This was according to “AmazonBasics Spearheads Amazon Private Brands,” research from One Click Retail.

While most consumers are familiar with the online giant’s proprietary Amazon Echo and Echo Dot (the two bestselling items of both Prime Day 2017 and the 2016 Holiday shopping season), the company’s other private-label merchandise, such as Wickedly Prime snacks, Lark &amp Ro apparel and Happy Belly snack foods, also pack a punch.

However, it is AmazonBasics that leads the charge — a line that contributes to 85% of Amazon’s private brand sales. This collection is also cannibalizing other Amazon brands.

For example, sales of bedding and bath label Pinzon have fallen by 50% so far this year (about $8 million in lost sales), while AmazonBasics has moved into those same categories. Specifically, it has seen a growth of about 50% (or nearly $10 million in sales), primarily in bedding. This indicates an intention on the part of Amazon to reinvest in the broader — and more successful — AmazonBasics brand and move away from niche labels, One Click Retail said.

Amazon’s private-label strategy has been so successful that AmazonBasics is now the third best-selling brand overall on Amazon.com, and ranks highly in many product groups (fourth overall in both electronics and wireless). Originally known for its flagship product — a range of affordable household batteries — the brand has now made an impact across a wide range of categories. The bulk of sales are in accessories for electronics (approximately $35 million), including wireless, camera and PC. One unexpected success is paper shredders, the brand’s third-largest category overall. This category also features the best-selling paper shredder on Amazon.

Nineteen of the top 20 bestselling private brand items on Amazon fall under the AmazonBasics label, with an Apple-certified USB cable being the top item in the U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K. (In fact, this item has generated approximately $10 million in sales in 2017, year-to-date [YTD].)

Outside of AmazonBasics, the best-selling private-label item is Amazon Elements Baby Wipes, Sensitive, 480 Count, which has earned $2.5 million in sales YTD. This ranks only third behind Huggies and Pampers in the Baby Wipes space.

The bestselling product group among the 45 remaining private labels is apparel (by a significant margin) with more than $20 million in sales. Amazon’s portfolio features a variety of labels, including Lark &amp Ro, Amazon Essentials, Buttoned Down, Mae, and Goodthreads. The next leading product group is Home, with sales that can be almost entirely credited to the shrinking Bedding &amp Bath brand Pinzon.

With its recent acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon is also positioned to make a huge impact on private-label grocery. At the end of August, Amazon made over 2,000 Whole Foods items available in the marketplace (initially in the U.S. alone), which resulted in an unprecedented $500,000 in sales in a single week.

It’s too early to quantify the full impact of the Whole Foods acquisition, but as a major (and instantly successful) new addition to Amazon private brands portfolio, it will provide competition to brand manufacturers now in the platform’s grocery space, One Click Retail said.

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